Abducted By Aliens
by Aprotny
Summary: What if Chiro wasn't born on Shuggazoom? What if he was born on PokeEarth? What if his mother was Delia Ketchum and his brother was Ash? What if he and his mother were abducted by aliens two months before Ash was born? What would happen? Here's what would happen. Contains Chinmay, OrangeShipping and Wishfulshipping. Rated T for kidnapping and abuse/violence.I do not own either show
1. Prologue

**Seven years before main story takes place…**

A woman ran through the streets of Shuggazoom City. In her left arm was a child of five with black hair and brown eyes and clutching her right hand, running alongside her, was a child of seven with black hair and blue eyes.

People glanced at her in confusion as she raced past, not knowing whether to help her or not. By the time some had decided to do something about it, she was long gone.

"Mommy, do you think they'll catch us?" The seven-year-old worried.

The woman glanced at him. "I don't know, Chiro. I certainly hope not."

Just then, an alien slid in front of the woman and her children. The three skidded to a halt. The five-year-old hid his face in his mother's shoulder, afraid to watch.

"Going so soon, Delia? Our fun has just begun." The alien snickered as more aliens surrounded Delia and her two boys.

Delia looked around wildly. The street was deserted. There was no one there to help.

Suddenly, Chiro was yanked away from his mother with a yelp. His five-year-old brother looked up to see the nightmare that he'd never forget.

"Chiro!" Delia screamed and ran forward as the boy was pulled into an alleyway.

"It's too late, Delia. You'll never see him again. This is your punishment for running away." The first alien shouted, holding her back.

"No!" Delia yelled. "Chiro!"

In the alleyway, punches and kicks rained down on the young boy as he tried to crawl away.

"Mommy! Ash!" Chiro screeched, but he knew deep down that his family would be unable to help him.

The last thing he saw before he fell unconscious was the evil aliens' faces grinning as they beat him up.


	2. Chapter 1

**Modern day…**

Chiro awoke with a start. He sat up, breathing hard. This wasn't the first time he'd had that nightmare, but he hadn't had it in years.

After he had calmed down, he pondered the meaning of the dream and why it might have come to him now of all times.

"Something's going to happen." He whispered to himself. "And it's going to have to do with them."

**Meanwhile…**

Ash woke up from the same nightmare, trembling. He too was curious about the meaning of the dream.

Unlike Chiro, however, he just shrugged it off, thinking it was because this was the anniversary of the day they'd lost Chiro.

Sighing, he got up and readied himself for the day. Pikachu yawned on the bed behind him, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his little paws.

"Good morning, Pikachu." Ash said, hearing the yawn and turning around. "You look like you slept well."

"Pika!" Pikachu confirmed happily, hopping onto his trainer and best friend's shoulder.

Ash thought of how Chiro would have loved to have a pal like Pikachu, but hid the sadness in a false smile and headed down to breakfast.

At breakfast, he overdid trying to act like himself and ate way faster than he normally did, attracting the one thing he didn't want: attention.

"Ash, are you okay?" Cilan asked, worried. "You look like you're trying to hide something."

Ash swallowed the food he had in his mouth and looked at Cilan. "Hiding something? I have no clue what you could be talking about. I'm not hiding anything."

"Your left eyebrow twitches when you're lying." Iris pointed out. "And your left eyebrow is twitching now."

Ash gulped. "So? I can hide stuff if I want to."

Iris glared at him and Cilan sighed.

Seeing Iris's glare, Ash gulped again. "I had a nightmare last night, but it's about a family secret so I can't tell you what it was about."

"Oh well. At least you told us something instead of insisting nothing's wrong." Cilan said.

Ash smiled lightly and looked down at his lap. "Wish I could tell you all about it though. It's a really hard secret to keep."

"You could always tell us, Ash. We won't tell anyone." Iris said.

"Nah. You wouldn't believe me anyways. You'd think I was crazy." Ash replied, standing up. "Well, let's get going! The sooner we set out the sooner we get to Virbank City!"

Iris and Cilan exchanged smiles, relieved that the nightmare didn't appear to be keeping Ash's spirits down too long.

They cleaned up from breakfast, grabbed their stuff, and checked out of the pokemon center.

They had only been travelling two hours when it began.

It started when Ash got hit from behind with a green knock-out laser that affected not just him, but Pikachu as well.

"Ash!" Iris and Cilan shouted. Iris ran to Ash's side, while Cilan spun around to face their attackers.

He gave an expression of surprise just in time to be hit as well.

"Cilan!" Iris yelped. Seconds later, she and Axew were the last ones to be hit.

All three were now perfectly vulnerable to capture, and captured they were.


	3. Chapter 2

Delia looked up when she heard footsteps drawing near. The door to the cell she was in slammed open and three people and two pokemon were thrown inside before the door was slammed shut again.

"Ash!" Delia gasped, recognizing one of the two boys. She realized the rest of the group had to be the friends he was travelling with. She scurried over to her son as the spaceship they were in took off. "Ash! No!"

She knew it would be several hours before he woke up. She herself had only woken up a few minutes ago and was still a little dizzy from it.

"Oh Ash! You never did anything to deserve this! Neither of us did! Why?! Why must they do this to us?!" Delia whimpered. She knew to keep her voice down out of experience. She couldn't help but wonder though. What had they ever done to cause this? Was it something her husband had done? She had no clue what the aliens wanted from them. She only knew that they were out for her and her son and had apparently scooped up her son's friends in the process.

**A few hours later…**

Ash moaned as he opened his eyes. He could make out a woman leaning over him, but was too dizzy to recognize her.

"Ash! Thank goodness! I was so worried!" Unlike the face, which was still too blurry to make out, the voice was recognized instantaneously.

"Mom? What are you doing here? Am I hurt or something?" Ash asked, confused.

"No. It was a knock-out laser. You've only been out a few hours." Delia answered.

Ash tilted his head. "Knock-out… laser?"

Delia nodded. "Yes. Do you remember what happened when you were little?"

Ash sat up quickly, but soon regretted it as the room spun a little around him. "But… they… they… they can't have come back for us! They don't know that nice alien lady brought us home! They don't know that…" He gulped. "I'm scared, Mom."

Iris and Cilan woke up just in time to hear those last three words.

"Scared? You're such a kid!" Iris couldn't help but say. "There's nothing to be scared of, right Cilan?"

Cilan got up dizzily and made his way to the cell window.

After a moment, he spoke without thinking. "The Earth looks so pretty from here."

Iris stared at him. "What did you just say?!"

"I said…" Cilan began, but was cut off as Iris shoved him out of the way to get a look out the window.

"We're… we're in outer space!" Iris gasped. "How could we be in outer space?!"

"Abducted by aliens?" Ash suggested.

"Shut up, Ash! This is serious!" Iris snapped.

Ash was silent.

"Leave him alone, Iris." Cilan said. "He's just trying to lighten the mood."

"No, Cilan. I mean it." Ash said softly. "We've been abducted by aliens, and we don't know why."

Iris gaped at him. "You're kidding, right?!"

"I think I saw them, but I thought they were weird people dressed in realistic pokemon costumes." Cilan said.

Ash glanced at him. "Well, they weren't."

Just then, the door opened and an alien stepped inside.

"Axew, use…" Iris began, wanting answers.

"No! Don't!" Ash yelled, remembering a moment when he was three when his mother's Espeon was shoved out into space because she had attacked an alien.

"But…" Iris began.

"Trust me, Iris! You'd regret it if you did!" Ash told her.

Iris grumbled to herself as the alien started speaking to Delia.

Delia gulped and shook her head wildly. The alien nodded and left.

"Wh-what did he say?" Ash asked, afraid of the answer.

Delia gulped again before turning to face her son and his friends. "He said… he said… if any of us do anything to… to fight back… he'll… he'll make sure you end up like Chiro, Ash…"

Ash covered his mouth and dropped to his knees.

Iris glanced at him before saying. "Who's Chiro and what happened to him?"

Delia winced. "Chiro was Ash's older brother. The one time we tried to escape, the aliens caught up with us, surrounded us, and took Chiro away from us. We have no idea whether he's dead or alive. We only know that he was left behind on that planet and that we never saw him again."

"You were abducted by aliens before? Why? How long ago? How did you get away?" Iris asked.

"I guess that, because you're stuck here with us now, it would be appropriate to tell you the whole story." Delia said. "It all started when I was seven months pregnant with Ash, when Chiro was two years old…"

**Earlier that morning…**

Chiro headed down to breakfast, still pondering what that dream meant. The Monkey Team looked up when he came into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Chiro! How'd you sleep?" Nova said.

"I had a nightmare." Chiro replied. The monkeys stopped eating mid-bite. The last time Chiro had had a nightmare, they'd ended up in a mysterious and dangerous dreamland.

Antauri put down his fork. "If you would like to tell us about your dream, we are all willing to listen."

Chiro considered that for a second before remembering that teammates don't keep secrets. "After breakfast, it was more of a flashback than a dream and there's a long story behind it."

The monkeys continued eating, eager to find out just what Chiro's flashback was about.

**Next time on Abducted By Aliens, the past is revealed to both groups of friends. **


	4. Chapter 3

It all started when Delia was seven months pregnant with Ash, when Chiro was two years old…

Delia, Chiro, and Delia's Espeon were taking a walk through the forest to a favorite picnic spot the Delia had found years before. Suddenly, it was lights out for both of them.

When they came to, they were light-years away from PokeEarth, light-years away from any kind of help they might find.

Two months later, Ash was born.

Both boys spent their toddler years aboard the spaceship. The details are unimportant, except for the fact that Espeon lost her cool at one point, causing her to be thrown out into space and die. Most things the two boys did were overlooked because they didn't know any better, but the opposite could be said for Delia. She made several mistakes that caused her sons to be beaten, for the aliens thought it would be a worse punishment for her to watch her children being beaten rather than the alternative of her being beaten herself.

Ash and Chiro never blamed their mother for her mistakes. They knew everyone makes mistakes and that the aliens had no right to beat them for them.

Then, one day, they landed on a planet that they knew had oxygen.

Delia had had it with watching her children get beaten. When no one was looking, she broke out and made a run for it. (The story of the escape is in the prologue. I do not feel like typing it all again.) Unfortunately, they didn't get away.

Chiro was found in the alleyway, still unconscious, a few days later, and taken to a hospital. There, he was nursed back to health and still lives on that planet to this day. However, he never stopped wishing he could see his family again.

Delia and Ash were dragged back to the spaceship and taken away from that planet. The aliens, who were sick of taking care of the family, brought the two to an illegal auction. The highest bidder was a kind lady who took them both back to Delia's home planet, where they were reunited with Ash's father and lived on that planet until this story takes place.

**After the story…**

"I… just… wow… I always thought you were born on Shuggazoom." Jinmay, who had joined the Monkey Team to hear the story, told her boyfriend. "I had no clue you had been through so much as a kid."

"I second that." All the monkeys said in unison.

"I'll be right back." Chiro said. He hurried to his room, grabbed something, and ran back. The monkeys and Jinmay gathered around to see it. "This is a picture of me and my parents. It was taken a couple of weeks before the capture and I had it on me when the aliens attacked. It's my only picture of them, a constant reminder that, somewhere out there, my biological family is missing me, hoping that, someday, they'll see me again."

The monkeys and Jinmay glanced up at Chiro. He had a faraway look in his eyes, proving that he wanted to see them as much as, if not more than, they wanted to see him.

"Chiro?" Jinmay said. Chiro looked at her. "I give you my word that you'll see them again someday. I promise."

Chiro cracked a smile. "Really?" Jinmay nodded. "Thanks, Jinmay. I appreciate it."

**Meanwhile…**

"Wow…" Iris said. "How long were you their prisoner, including before Ash was born?"

"Well, Ash was five and four months when we were taken to auction, so I'd say I was their prisoner for about five and a half years." Delia answered hesitantly.

"That's a long time." Cilan said. "I can understand why you tried to escape."

Delia sighed. "I know, but it was a stupid move and it ended horribly. If we hadn't done it, we probably wouldn't have lost Chiro."

"But there's also a chance that the events that led to you getting home and Ash going on his pokemon journey never would have happened." Iris pointed out. "A lot of things would have gone very differently if you'd never gotten home."

Delia glanced at her and sighed again. "I guess so, but that doesn't mean I miss Chiro any less."

"We understand, Mrs. Ketchum." Cilan said. "It's hard to lose a family member, especially a child, but I get the feeling that he's still out there somewhere. All we have to do is look in the right places and we'll find him."

Delia cracked a smile. "Thank you, Cilan. It's very kind of you to say that. You're right. There is a chance he's still out there. I just hope that, someday, we'll be reunited. Someday…"


	5. Chapter 4

**One year later…**

"Hey! Chiro!" Nova called. Chiro slid off his bed and went to see what the yellow monkey wanted.

"What is it, Nova?" He asked when he reached the Command Center.

"We're almost out of fuel for the robot, but Antauri gets the feeling something is going to happen today." Nova explained. "Think you can handle watching over the city on your own for a few hours?"

Chiro smiled. "No problem. You can count on me."

"We'll be back by nightfall." Antauri said. "Call us if you need any help."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, and so will everybody else. You just go get those moon rocks. I'll patrol the city while you're gone and make sure to call if it ends up more than I can handle." Chiro winked at them and headed out of the robot.

"For some reason, I feel worried about the kid." Sprx said when Chiro was out of sight. "If things really do end up more than he can handle, do you think he'll be able to get a call in?"

"He'll be fine!" Otto said. "The kid's really grown up over the past few years! He can handle himself!"

"I hope you're right, Otto." Gibson murmured. "If things go wrong, I don't want to arrive in the aftermath."

**Later…**

Ash led the way as he, his mom (Delia), Iris, and Cilan ran through a high-tech city. His heart beat fast as he realized this chase was history repeating itself. The four turned down several alleyways until they were good and lost. That was when the aliens caught up.

Delia yanked her son closer and wrapped her arms around him, hoping it would prevent the aliens from taking him away.

The aliens just grinned at the action and shoved her and Ash apart, grabbing the young boy and pulling him out of sight.

The three remaining were dragged back towards the spaceship against their will.

**Meanwhile…**

Chiro was strolling through downtown part of the city when he heard a cry of pain. He froze. Another cry of pain reached his ears.

He quickly hurried towards the sound, soon reaching a group of aliens that were beating a boy younger than him who almost looked familiar.

"Hey!" Chiro shouted. The aliens and the boy looked towards him. "Leave him alone!"

One of the aliens smirked. "Try and make us!"

Chiro had all five aliens down for the count in less than a minute. He helped the boy up. "Let's go."

The boy nodded. "Thank you for saving me, but my mom and my friends… they're still in trouble…"

Chiro stopped for a moment. "Which way?"

The boy looked around. "I don't know."

"Well, I'll find them." Chiro promised. He noticed they were near Mr. Gakslapper's hover burger stand. "Mr. Gakslapper!"

The old man looked up. "How can I help you, Chiro?"

The boy who Chiro was helping started at the name.

"This boy is hurt. He needs to go to the hospital, but he's worried about his friends and family. Do you think you could help me out?" Chiro asked.

"Are you asking me to take the boy to the hospital while you go look for his friends and family?" Mr. Gakslapper asked. Chiro nodded. "No problem. Just give me a second, okay?"

Chiro nodded again and turned to the boy as Mr. Gakslapper temporarily closed his stand. "Mr. Gakslapper will take care of you. I'll find your friends and your mom, okay? No need to worry."

The boy smiled lightly and nodded. Chiro handed him over to Mr. Gakslapper and ran off. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the boy pass out.

Turning a corner, Chiro activated his jetpack and flew above the city. He saw a space ship in the outskirts and decided to investigate. He noticed a bunch of people were doing the same thing, which was probably a bad idea.

Some aliens similar to the ones who had been attacking the boy shoved through the crowd, not caring what happened to the people they were knocking over. Dragged along by the aliens were a woman and two kids. Chiro was certain these were the boy's mom and friends.

He landed and made himself known. "What do you think you're doing with them?!"

The aliens turned to look at him. "These people are criminals, kid. They escaped onto this planet and planned to cause trouble. They would have if we hadn't recaptured them."

Chiro stood firm, trying not to show that he was thinking over what they'd said in his mind.

"You monsters! We're not criminals! We didn't ask for you to capture us and take Ash away! If you don't let us go find him I'll stick my Axew on you!" The female kid yelled.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Iris. Didn't I tell you what happened to my Espeon all those years ago?" The woman said nervously.

"Her… Espeon?" Chiro whispered inaudibly, remembering that his mother had had an Espeon. Suddenly, he realized just who that boy he'd saved was. He also recognized the aliens and that woman!

The aliens, however, saw that he was planning to make a move. Before he could, one of the aliens whipped out some kind of ray gun and shot him with it.

Chiro flew into a tree and fell to the ground, unconscious. All the spectators gasped.

"Grab that boy. We can make plenty of money off him." The alien leader hissed quietly.

Two other aliens advanced towards the teenager. Before they could reach him, though, the crowd stepped in front of him, blocking the way.

"If you want to get to him, you have to get through us first!" A man shouted.

The aliens all whipped out their ray guns and shot into the crowd.

Several people went down before the alien leader decided the boy wasn't worth it and told them to halt their shooting.

The woman and two kids were yanked into the spaceship, followed by all the aliens. The spaceship then took off, leaving Chiro and almost half the present Shuggazoomians unconscious in the dust.


	6. Chapter 5

Chiro opened his eyes dizzily. It was a couple of moments before he realized it was dark outside.

"Oh man!" He yelped. "The monkeys are probably worried sick about me!"

He leapt off the bed he was laying on, but fell to his knees due to a dizzy spell. He moaned quietly, before using the bed to stand up.

Suddenly, he heard his communicator buzz. He saw it on the bedside table, along with his clothes. It was just then that he realized he was wearing a hospital gown.

He blinked and answered his communicator. "Hello?"

"Hey, kid, we know we're late, but we at least expected for you to be waiting in the park. Where are you?" Sprx asked.

Chiro breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't worried yet. "Don't worry. I'll be there soon. I'll explain when I get there." He turned off his communicator.

"What makes you think you're getting out of here so soon?" Chiro spun around to see Doctor Becan standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

"Um…" Chiro stammered. "Um…"

"You're staying here overnight along with the other people who were knocked out during that little incident today." Doctor Becan said. "We don't know if there are any side-effects to those lasers, and we need to keep you here to make sure you're all right. You might as well lay back down, Chiro." Chiro didn't move. "That wasn't a question, Chiro. That was an order. Lay back down. Now."

Chiro remembered about Ash. "What about Ash?"

Doctor Becan stared at him, confused. "Who?"

"The boy who Mr. Gakslapper brought in earlier. His name is Ash. Is he all right?" Chiro asked.

"Oh. Him. We've treated him for his injuries and he's also staying overnight. We need you to worry about yourself right now, Chiro. I believe I told you to lay back down." Doctor Becan said.

Chiro sighed and grumbled to himself, but finally obeyed.

**Meanwhile…**

"What did he say, Sprx?" Nova asked.

"He said not to worry and that he'd be here soon." Sprx said. "Still, I wonder why he's not here already. He said he'd explain when he got here."

A teenage girl approached them. "Hey, where were you guys earlier today?"

"Collecting some fuel for the robot. Chiro was supposed to call us if there was anything he couldn't handle. Why? Did something happen?" Nova said, realizing afterwards that she didn't have to give that much information.

"Yes." The teenage girl said. She explained what had happened earlier that day and that Chiro had been taken to the hospital. "They're probably not going to let him out tonight, even if he tries."

The monkeys stood staring at her with their mouths slightly open.

"I guess the reason he didn't call you was because it all happened so fast that he didn't have the chance." The teenage girl continued, answering their unasked question. "Follow me. My dad's the one taking care of him so I know which room he's in."

The monkeys exchanged glances and followed the girl to the hospital.

**Meanwhile…**

Ash sat on the hospital bed and sadly stroked his Pikachu, who had snuck in through the window. He had heard what had happened at the spaceship and knew that the aliens had gotten away with his mother, Iris, and Cilan. He figured there was probably no chance of him seeing them again, which was what was making him upset.

He heard footsteps and quickly hid Pikachu under the pillow. The boy who had helped him earlier, Chiro, entered the room. Like Ash, he was wearing a hospital gown.

"Hello." Ash said.

"Hi." Chiro replied, sitting down in the chair next to Ash's bed. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened. I thought I could handle them, but I didn't want to attack without a good reason to and they hit me out of nowhere."

Ash gave a small smile. "That's what happened when I was kidnapped. My friends and I were just walking along when I was suddenly hit from behind. Next thing I know, we're waking up in a spaceship with my mom. That was a year ago."

Both were silent for a little bit.

"Ash was my brother's name." Chiro said, wanting to tell the other boy what he'd come there to say.

"Chiro was _my_ brother's name." Ash replied uncertainly.

Pikachu peeked out from under the pillow. Neither boy noticed.

"Is… is your last name Ketchum?" Chiro asked hesitantly.

Ash looked up. "Is yours?" Chiro nodded and Ash's eyes widened. "You mean… you mean you're… you mean you're _me and Mom's_ Chiro?!"

Chiro smiled lightly and nodded.

Ash threw his arms around the older boy. "I can't believe it! It's really you! We really found you!" His smile faded and he withdrew sadly. "Or… or at least I have…"

Chiro placed his hands on Ash's shoulders. "We'll find her together. Your friends too."

Ash looked up at him, tears forming in his eyes. "You… you mean it?"

Chiro nodded and Ash hugged him again.

"There you are, Chiro. Your monkeys are looking for you." Doctor Becan interrupted.

Chiro stared at him. "What?"

"My daughter told them what happened today and led them to where you were _supposed_ to be." Doctor Becan told him. "Last time I checked, you were _supposed_ to be laying in that bed where I left you."

"The monkeys are here?!" Chiro yelped, standing up swiftly.

"Monkeys?" Ash asked, confused.

"Did you expect them _not _to come here when they found out what happened? Don't stand up so quickly, Chiro. You're still hurt." Doctor Becan said.

"I'm _fine_. There aren't any stupid side effects to whatever the laser is." Chiro argued.

"Do you mean the knock-out laser? Did they use that on you?" Ash asked.

"Knock-out laser?" Chiro and Doctor Becan questioned in unison.

"Yeah. It's some laser gun that those aliens have. When it hits a person, they're knocked out right away. It lasts a few hours and the victim is dizzy for about five minutes after they wake up." Ash explained. "Those are the only effects I know of."

"See? No stupid side-effects you have to worry about." Chiro told Doctor Becan.

"That doesn't mean we're not keeping you overnight just in case." Doctor Becan said.

"Aw man." Chiro mumbled.

"It's okay, Chiro. Go to sleep and you'll be able to leave as soon as you wake up." Ash said.

Doctor Becan grabbed Chiro's wrist and started dragging him out of the room. "Come on. To bed with you."

"See you in the morning, Chiro!" Ash called after them. As soon as they were out of sight, the boy pulled Pikachu onto his lap and started stroking him again. "Then, we can start searching for Mom and Iris and Cilan."


	7. Chapter 6

"Ah! It's good to be free!" Chiro said.

"Come on, Chiro! You were only in the hospital for one night!" Nova scolded.

"I know, but that place is stuffy and hot." Chiro complained.

"Try being stuck in a cell on a space ship for a whole year. It gets stuffy and hot in there too." Ash said, approaching them with Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Hi there, Ash. How are you this morning?" Chiro asked cheerfully.

Ash smiled. "I'm okay. Do you remember your promise?"

"Of course! I don't forget things like that!" Chiro said. He turned to the Monkey Team. "Guys, I kind of promised Ash I'd help him search for his friends and Mom."

"Why didn't you consult us first? You can't exactly go on a galaxy-wide search without telling us." Nova said.

"That's why I'm telling you now." Chiro replied.

"No." Nova said.

"What?" Chiro wasn't sure he heard correctly.

"She said no, Chiro, and I agree." Sprx said.

"I figured you wouldn't understand." Chiro murmured and ran off, grabbing Ash by the wrist along the way.

"Chiro!" Antauri called, feeling the teenager's hurt. He realized that there was more than one reason Chiro had made that promise, but he didn't know what the other reasons were.

The monkeys sighed and headed back to the Super Robot… just to find it headless.

"Can't that boy take no for an answer?!" Nova growled.

They ran into the robot's command center and dialed up the Mind Scrambler. When the connection was established, they could see that it was indeed Chiro that had stolen the Mind Scrambler and Ash was with him.

"Are you crazy, kid?! You could get hurt out there!" Sprx yelled at him.

"Chiro! Come back right now!" Nova shouted.

"You're not the boss of me, so leave me alone." That was all Chiro said before severing the connection.

The monkeys stood silently in the Command Center, unable to believe what had just happened.

"I can't believe he ran away just because we wouldn't let him keep some stupid promise to someone he just met!" Nova finally blurted out.

"Let's call Jinmay. Maybe she can get him to come back." Gibson suggested.

"Right!" Nova, Sprx, and Otto said.

Antauri remained silent.

**Meanwhile…**

"Do you really think running away was the best idea, Chiro?" Ash asked his older brother.

Chiro glanced back at him. "They didn't trust my decision to help you. That's their loss. I'm not going back, at least until we find Mom and your friends."

Ash sighed. "I didn't mean to make this happen."

"It's not your fault, Ash. I can't live my whole life without seeing my real family again. I would have left anyways, eventually." Chiro told him.

"Do you think they're going to follow us?" Ash asked.

"In some way, shape, or form. They'll probably ask for Jinmay to help them out, either protecting the city while they're gone or searching for me for them." Chiro replied.

"Who's Jinmay?" Ash wondered out loud.

"She's my girlfriend. I trust her more than I do the monkeys right now." Chiro answered.

They were silent for a little while.

"Do you have any idea where we should start?" Chiro asked.

"Well…" Ash said. "There is one place they might have gone…"


	8. Chapter 7

"Ash. Ash, wake up." Chiro whispered, shaking the slumbering boy's shoulder. "Come on. We're there. Wake up."

Ash sleepily opened his eyes. "We're there?"

Chiro nodded. "Yes, so wake up."

Ash yawned, stretched, and sat up in his seat. "Do you have anything to eat?"

"I've got some gando bars. They're not very tasty, but they're filling." Chiro answered. "Here."

He handed Ash what looked like a big granola bar. When the younger boy bit into it, he could tell what Chiro said about it was true.

"Yuck." Ash said. "Do you have anything else?"

"Nope, so eat up." Chiro replied, also eating a gando bar.

They soon finished their breakfast and exited the Mind Scrambler.

"This place gives me the chills." Ash said, shivering. "It's that way."

The two took off in the direction Ash had pointed and soon came to the auction house, which was stationed in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, they had arrived at the wrong time. The current auction was over and the crowd was beginning to disperse.

"Axew! Axew-ew!" A voice called out over the noise of the crowd.

"That's Iris's Axew!" Ash gasped. "They were here!"

The attack Dragon Rage burst through the crowd and the two boys saw the little dragon-type pokemon running around looking for his trainer.

Instead, Axew spotted Ash and Chiro and ran over to them.

Ash quickly hid the dragon-type in his vest and started looking around for Delia, Iris, and Cilan.

By now, the majority of the auction-goers had left and Delia, Iris, and Cilan were nowhere to be found.

Finding no clues, Ash and Chiro left the scene, depressed.

"At least we found Axew." Chiro said, trying to lighten the mood. "And we've got a start. We just have to continue looking."

They went around the Mind Scrambler to get to the door just to find a certain pink-haired robot waiting for them.

"Jinmay!" Chiro gasped, surprised.

"Chiro." Jinmay replied in calm irritation.

"Um… how did you find us so fast?" Chiro asked nervously.

"The Mind Scrambler's got a tracking device, you idiot!" Jinmay shouted, hitting him on the head.

Ash glanced at Chiro, who mumbled. "Oops."

"I… no, we… would like an explanation as to what exactly you were thinking when you decided to run away!" Jinmay snapped.

"We?" Chiro murmured, even more nervous.

"The Monkey Team needs to know too! They might not be out here looking because there's been a new attack wave on the city they need to handle, but they deserve to know why you ran away!" Jinmay growled.

Chiro bowed his head. "I need to find my family. My biological family."

Jinmay's expression changed instantly. She gasped and said. "Oh, Chiro… You know they would have let you if you'd just told them the real reason why you were leaving!"

"They couldn't just trust I had a good reason for doing it?" Chiro mumbled angrily.

"I think both sides handled it wrong. The Monkey Team should've asked for another reason or just trusted you if you didn't want to tell, while you should've told them the whole reason you were leaving." Jinmay said. "Now we know it wasn't just because of the promise to your friend even though that was part of it."

"Um… he's my brother…" Chiro told her.

"… that explains even more." Jinmay mumbled. "Anyways, why don't we call up the Monkey Team and make amends?"

Chiro sighed. "I'm still a little mad at them, but you have a point."

"Good." Jinmay said. "We can call them from the Mind Scrambler."

They all entered the Mind Scrambler. Pikachu, who had stayed behind to reduce Ash's chances of being recognized, was waiting and jumped onto Ash's shoulder the moment he stepped inside.

"Hey, buddy. Sorry we took so long." Ash said.

"Chu!" Pikachu replied.

"Aw! He's cute!" Jinmay commented at the sight of Pikachu.

"Pikachu, we found Axew." Ash told his pal.

On cue, Axew jumped out from under his vest. "Xew!

"Pi Pika!" Pikachu greeted, glad they had found one of their friends.

"Chiro, the call." Jinmay reminded her boyfriend, who was stalling by watching the exchange between the two pokemon.

"Right." Chiro said. He dialed the Super Robot on the Mind Scrambler's main frame.

The Monkey Team answered immediately.

"Chiro, we've been worried about you." Antauri said.

Sprx pushed him aside. "What were you thinking, kid? Running off like that… You could get hurt!"

"I'll be fine." Chiro said, fighting to keep his cool at Sprx's greeting.

"How do you know that?! Those aliens knocked you out in one shot! There's no telling what could be out there!" Sprx argued.

"I've been off Shuggazoom before, Sprx, and you guys have taught me how to defend myself. I'll be fine." Chiro replied.

"Listen, Chiro." Nova said. "We need you to come back. We…"

"…don't trust me to be out here on my own, that's what!" Chiro interrupted.

"That isn't what I was going to say!" Nova insisted.

"No, but it's what you were thinking!" Chiro said.

"Chiro! That's not true!" Nova said.

"Yeah right." Chiro went to hang up the call, but Jinmay grabbed his arm.

"We're here to make amends, guys. Don't argue." She said.

"Whatever…" Chiro mumbled.

Jinmay glared at him. "Chiro, tell them why you ran away."

"Why should I?" Chiro asked.

Jinmay slapped him across the face. "Don't give me attitude! If you want any help with your search, you'll tell them why you ran away!"

"I don't need help!" Chiro snapped.

"Chiro…" Ash began.

"Stay out of this, Ash!" Chiro hissed.

Ash winced and took a step back.

"Chiro, we miss you. You're our family." Nova said.

"And I have another family out there that needs my help right now, okay?!" Chiro fumed.

The Monkey Team froze as Chiro slammed the button to end the call. In his anger, Chiro had basically revealed why he had left.

His biological family needed him.


	9. Chapter 8

"Chiro!" Jinmay yelled. "I told you not to hang up!"

"They deserved it!" Chiro replied.

"No, they didn't! They were just worried for your safety and you got all mad at them for caring about you!" Jinmay argued.

A little bit of guilt intruded on Chiro's anger. He pushed the feeling away. "You said you wouldn't help me if I didn't tell them, so what are you waiting for?! Why don't you just leave?!"

"Do you want me to leave?" Jinmay replied.

"If you're planning on dragging me back to the monkeys, then yes!" Chiro answered.

"And what if I'm not?" Jinmay asked.

Chiro blinked in surprise. "You're… not?"

"Find your family by yourself. I'm out of here." Jinmay said, leaving the Mind Scrambler.

Ash ran after her, while Chiro just watched, dumbfounded.

**Outside the Mind Scrambler…**

"Jinmay! Wait!" Ash called.

Jinmay stopped and turned around. "What?"

"I don't know what exactly is going on between you and my brother, but leaving isn't the best way to solve it." Ash told her. "Whether he wants to admit it or not, we don't know where to go next. The search will just take longer if we don't have any help. If you can help us, please do."

Jinmay sighed. "Okay, I'll give it another go. After all, I didn't just come here to find out why Chiro ran away and get him to tell the Monkey Team. I also came here because I care about him. I promised him a year ago that he'd see his family again someday. I think it's time I fulfill that promise."

"Thanks, Jinmay. We appreciate it. Even if Chiro isn't willing to show it right now." Ash said, smiling.

They reentered the Mind Scrambler. Chiro was sitting with his head in his hands when they came in. He looked up upon their entry and then looked away.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Jinmay." He murmured.

"It's okay. I'm sorry for hitting you." Jinmay responded. "I have an idea on where to get help with finding your family."

"You do?" Chiro asked, turning back to face them.

"Yes. I'll show you the way." Jinmay answered.

Everyone took a seat and they took off in the Mind Scrambler.

**Meanwhile…**

"Sprx, you were a little too hard on him." Nova said. "Heck, both of us were. If we had reacted differently in the first place, he wouldn't be so mad at us."

Sprx sighed. "I'm just worried about the kid. He could get into big trouble out there by himself."

"But he's not by himself." Antauri reminded them. "He has Ash and Jinmay. Not to mention, no Monkey Team member is ever alone."

"Antauri's right. Chiro has help if he needs it and he knows how to protect himself if anything happens." Gibson stepped in. "And this isn't for forever. He'll come back. We all know he will."

"But what if he doesn't?! We'll never see him again!" Otto worried.

"Chiro _will_ come back." Nova assured him. "He knows how much he means to us and we mean a lot to him as well. He won't stay away forever."

"Promise?" Otto asked.

"Promise." Nova replied. To herself, she thought. 'He has to.'

**Meanwhile…**

As Cilan was pushed through the halls of the spaceship, he felt he'd never been more afraid in his life. He was alone. Sure, he had his pokemon with him, but he'd never been in such a bad situation so far from people he knew could help him.

The group entered a control room where Cilan was introduced to an alien named Hansing. Hansing told Cilan that this meant they wanted Cilan to take over Hansing's job and that Hansing would be killed once he was done teaching Cilan how to do the job correctly. To sum it up, they weren't satisfied with Hansing's work and had decided to replace him.

Cilan spent the next few days learning how to help drive a spaceship and how even one tiny mistake could send them a billion light-years off course.

**Meanwhile…**

Iris found herself set to work on a plantation on a planet not far from Poke-Earth, but yet to be discovered by it.

The work was hard and the crops were foreign. She prayed she would be freed.

**Meanwhile…**

Delia was put to work in an alien nursery halfway between Poke-Earth and Shuggazoom.

The babies were very different from human babies and she often messed up, but she was learning.

Hopefully, all three could last until they were found.


	10. Chapter 9

"The Intergalactic Police?" Chiro asked, confused.

Jinmay nodded. "If anyone can help us, it's them. They deal with this stuff all the time. Selling species of other planets on the Black Market is highly illegal."

"I think it was an undercover Intergalactic Policewoman who bought me and Mom the first time we were put on auction and brought us home." Ash said. "Good thinking, Jinmay."

They landed the Mind Scrambler outside the police station, but inside the oxygen bubble. Then, they got out of the ship and walked inside.

Once inside they went up to the counter and Jinmay rang the bell.

The very alien that had helped Ash and Delia when they were younger came up to the counter.

"It's you." Ash said in obvious surprise.

"Is this the lady who helped you and Mom before, Ash?" Chiro asked.

Ash nodded. "Yes."

The lady seemed surprised to see him. "How may I help you?"

Ash explained how he and his friends and mother were kidnapped, how he was separated from them, and that the belief was that they had been put on auction and sold as was proved by finding Axew.

"I see…" The lady said. "And you came here for help finding them?"

The three kids nodded.

"Please help us. We don't know where to look next." Ash said.

"We already search for intergalactic slaves twenty four seven anyways." The lady told them. She handed Ash a type of communicator. "If we see any humans, we'll let you know immediately. Otherwise, all you can do is keep looking. That's all I can really do to help you."

A tear slid down Ash's face and Chiro put an arm around him.

"It'll be okay, Ash. We'll find them." He whispered in his brother's ear.

Ash sighed. "Thank you for your help, Ma'am. We really appreciate it."

"If you find one of your friends, let us know immediately so that we can come arrest their captor." The lady said. "Good luck."

The three kids thanked her again and left the building.

Back inside the Mind Scrambler, they came up with a new plan and left for a nearby planet to start searching.

**Weeks later…**

Ash groaned as Chiro shook him awake. "Can't I have just a little longer?"

"Come on, Ash. We're at another planet. It's time to get up and go search." Chiro said.

Ash groaned again before finally getting up. Axew ran past them without them noticing.

"Guys! Axew's going crazy! Someone help me get him under control!" Jinmay shouted.

Ash caught Axew as he passed by again. "What is it, Axew? Is Iris near?"

Axew nodded. "Axew-ew!"

Ash nodded back and told Chiro and Jinmay. "Looks like we've got the right planet, but we can't call the police until we're sure."

"Alrighty then." Jinmay said. "Let's get going."

They exited the Mind Scrambler to find themselves on a very fertile planet.

They had landed in a forest that was filled with strange creatures. They walked through the woods for about an hour before reaching some fields filled with unfamiliar crops.

Aliens of all types and sizes worked the fields.

Axew ran off, dodging Ash when the boy tried to catch him.

Chiro yanked Ash into some bushes where Jinmay was already hiding just as someone turned to look their way.

Ash spotted something the same shade of purple as Iris's hair out of the corner of his eye.

"Mistress! I brought you what you asked for from town!" Someone called, running past them.

Chiro quickly clamped a hand over Ash's mouth to muffle his gasp.

"Thm wuff Iwiff!" Ash said, although he meant to say 'That was Iris'.

"I figured." Chiro whispered in his ear. "Did you bring the communicator the policewoman gave us?"

Ash pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to him.

"Will you be quiet?" Chiro asked.

Ash nodded and Chiro removed his hand from Ash's mouth just as Jinmay was yanked out of the bushes by one of the aliens.

Chiro shoved the communicator back in Ash's hand and said. "Call the police and tell them we found one of your friends. We'll distract them."

Ash nodded again, activated the communicator, and started talking to the policewoman who had given them the device.

Chiro leaped out of the bushes to find Jinmay already fighting the alien that had grabbed her. More were approaching, though, so he knew she'd need help.

He ran over to her and helped her fight.

**Meanwhile…**

Iris was handing the package to her mistress when one of her fellow workers announced they had a spy.

He was holding a girl with pink hair and green eyes. Lasers suddenly came out of the girl's eyes and a fight broke out.

A boy with black hair and blue eyes about the girl's age jumped out of the bushes to help her.

While the two were distracted, Iris's mistress ordered some of her servants to check if there was anyone else in those bushes.

That was when Axew appeared and jumped into Iris's arms.

"Axew-ew!" Axew cried happily.

"Axew?" Iris was surprised to see him. "How'd you get here? Did you come with them?"

"Axew!" Axew nodded.

"Mistress! We found another kid! We managed to knock him out before he noticed we'd found him!" One of the servants reported.

Another of the servants walked up with a very familiar boy in his arms.

Iris gasped. It was Ash! How had he gotten here?! The last she'd seen him…

"Mistress, you might want to check this out." A third servant said nervously. He held out some type of communicator. The mistress's eyes widened. "He was talking on it when we found him."

The mistress snatched the communicator and broke it in half. "Let's hope they don't have our position yet."

"What's that thing?" Iris asked quietly.

"None of your business, girl! Get back to work!" The mistress snapped. "You! Kill him!"

"No! Axew! Dragon Rage!" Iris yelled without thinking.

She realized her mistake too late, but the damage was already done.

Trying to ignore the fact that she was probably in big trouble now, she ran over to her friend, who had been dropped when the Dragon Rage hit the guy holding him.

"Ash! Ash, wake up!" She shouted, frantically shaking him. Ash didn't respond.

Her mistress yanked her away from her friend angrily. "Kill him!"

One of the servants approached Ash while Iris was restrained by her mistress.

Pikachu arrived and knocked the servant away from the boy with Volt Tackle. Then, the yellow mouse pokemon stood protectively between the servants and his trainer, determined to keep Ash safe.

The boy and girl from before, having finished their fight, ran over to guard Ash as well.

That was when a spaceship flew towards them and landed in the fields.

Some aliens in uniform exited the spaceship and strode up to the mistress.

"You're under arrest for illegal dealings on species of other planets." One said.

The mistress tensed and whipped out a knife, which she put to Iris's neck. "Let me go or I'll kill her."

The boy and girl glared at her, while the aliens approached her.

"Let the girl go now and we'll give you a five minute head start." The alien that spoke before ordered.

The mistress hesitated before dropping the knife and fleeing with those who were loyal to her.

"Are you all right, Iris?" The boy asked Iris.

Iris nodded. "How do you know my name?"

The boy just glanced at Ash as an answer.

"Oh." Iris murmured. "Guess that makes sense."

"My name's Chiro and this is Jinmay." The boy introduced. "We've been helping Ash with his search."

"Thank you for coming to rescue me. I really appreciate it." Iris said. "Your name sounds familiar. Have I heard it somewhere before?"

"I'm Ash's older brother." Chiro told her. "He probably told you about me at some point."

"Will he be okay? Ash, I mean." Iris asked.

"He's unconscious, but not hurt." The girl, Jinmay, answered. "He might wake up with a headache, but will be fine otherwise."

One of the aliens approached Chiro and handed him something. "Here's another communicator to keep in touch. We'll let you know if we find any more of your friends. We appreciate your calling for help rather than trying to take care of it all on your own."

"Thanks for coming. Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't." Chiro said.

The alien nodded. "Glad to be of service. Try to be more careful next time, though."

Chiro agreed, knowing he was referring to what had happened to Ash. "We'll try."

"We're headed off to pursue that lady." The alien said. "Our particular unit probably won't meet with you again."

"I guess this is goodbye then. Thanks again for helping us."

The alien nodded and left them to pursue Iris's ex-mistress.

Then, Chiro lifted Ash onto his back and the group, now including Iris, headed back to the Mind Scrambler.


	11. Chapter 10

**A week later…**

"Adjust the course ten degrees to the right." Ordered the captain of the ship Cilan was on.

Cilan quickly obeyed. He had been promoted three times since he'd gotten there and now he was partially in control of the ship's route.

There was a siren from behind the ship. Everyone turned in confusion.

"Darn it. Increase the speed!" The captain commanded.

One of Cilan's fellow workers pushed a lever up a bit.

The ship sped up.

"Thirty degrees to the left!" The captain yelled.

Cilan pressed a few buttons to adjust the course. He wanted to know what was going on, but knew he wasn't allowed to ask.

Suddenly, the ship stopped. Those who weren't wearing seatbelts were thrown from their seats.

Cilan took off his seatbelt and stood up as the ship started to move backwards.

"You, you, and you, get us out of here!" The captain shouted.

As those with orders struggled to get the ship going forward, Cilan realized the problem.

They were stuck in a tractor beam.

Walls appeared outside their windows and the hatch shut as soon as they were completely inside the other ship, trapping them.

The captain marched towards the back of the ship, where the entrance/exit was, after telling everyone to stay put.

"What is the meaning of this?!" They heard him shout at someone.

"We are searching passing ships for illegal servants. Species of other planets illegally sold on auction." Came the response.

Cilan's heart skipped a beat, and he was sure he wasn't the only one. Most of the servants in there had been sold to the captain at auctions.

"What makes you think I have illegal servants on my ship?" The captain asked.

"We have recently been informed of some humans sold on auction. It is very rare to see humans in outer space and, when we scanned your ship, we saw that you had one." Was the reply.

Cilan's heart skipped another beat as he realized it was him they were looking for, but how had they known?

"I don't know what you're talking about! I don't have any humans aboard my ship! None that I know of, at least!" The captain said.

All the workers turned to look at Cilan, who just stood there, not knowing what to do.

The response was: "Well, as the intergalactic police, we have the right to search your ship anyways."

There were footsteps heading into the ship.

"Hey! Get back here! I'm warning you…" The captain yelled.

Some aliens in uniform appeared in the control room and immediately saw Cilan.

One grabbed his arm and said. "Is this what you call no humans on your ship?"

The captain faked confusion. "That's a human? I honestly didn't know… He came to work for me from another ship."

"Is this true?" The alien holding Cilan asked Cilan.

Cilan didn't know what to say. "Um… what happens depends on my answer?"

"Just tell us the truth, Kid. Were you sold on auction or not?" The alien hissed.

Cilan gulped. "Yes?"

"Why you little…" The captain whipped out a disintegration gun and shot it at Cilan.

The alien holding Cilan shoved the boy out of the way, allowing it to hit himself instead.

Cilan gasped as his savior turned to dust.

The gun was yanked out of the captain's hands as he was arrested by the police for illegal dealings and murder.

The crew watched as their captain was taken away.

"We'll be taking you all back to your original homes now." A policewoman who had stayed behind said. She looked at Cilan. "Except for you, human. There are some other humans looking for you. We'll be meeting up with them."

Cilan was confused, and a little scared, but he grabbed his pokemon and headed into the police ship.

**Meanwhile…**

"Are we at the next planet yet?" Ash asked.

"You're so impatient, Ash." Chiro sighed. "Space travel takes time. It'll be another couple of hours before we reach the next planet."

"It's been a whole week!" Iris said. "When are we going to find Cilan?! Oh, and your mom too, of course."

Chiro and Jinmay smiled at each other.

"What is it?" Iris demanded. "What are you smiling about?"

"Someone's in love with their friend." Jinmay teased.

"W-w-what?! You've got to be kidding me! Me in love with Cilan?! No way!" Iris retorted.

"The way you talk about him makes it obvious." Chiro said.

"Why would I be in love with a stupid, idiotic, gorgeous, smart pokemon connoisseur?!" Iris yelled.

Everyone besides Iris, including Pikachu and Axew, burst into laughter.

"What?! What did I say?!" Iris snapped.

"Oh. Nothing." Jinmay said while the boys kept laughing.

Suddenly, the communicator rang.

Iris dove to pick it up. "Hello? Did you find one of our friends?" She smiled. "Yay! Where can we meet you?" She paused. "Okay. We'll get there as fast as we can. Bye."

Chiro stopped the Mind Scrambler. "Where to?"

"Hendring 9." Iris answered.

Chiro nodded. "Sit down. We're taking the shortcut."

"Shortcut?" Ash asked.

"A Hyper-boost warp tunnel." Jinmay answered. "Gets you across the galaxy really fast."

**An hour later…**

Chiro pulled the Mind Scrambler out of the Hyper-boost warp tunnel and headed towards the nearest planet.

"Is that Hendring 9?" Iris asked.

"No. We need to refuel if we want to make it to Hendring 9. It shouldn't take long." Chiro answered.

They landed at a gas station on a small planet called Gerdan Humsen.

An alien came to greet them. "How many I help you?"

"We need fuel for our ship." Chiro told him. "Just enough to fill the tank."

"No problem." The alien said. "Leave it to me."

"Thank you." Chiro said.

"I have a rule, though. DO NOT go to the nursery across the street." The alien told them.

"Why not?" Chiro asked.

"They don't show much hospitality to my customers." The alien said. "Never really understood why, but I tell all my customers to stay away as a precaution."

"Chiro?" Jinmay said.

Chiro turned to look at her. "Yes?"

His girlfriend pointed to the nursery across the street, or, more specifically, to the boy who was looking in the window of the nursery across the street.

"Ash! Get back here!" Chiro called.

Ash just motioned for them to come over.

"I'll get him." The alien said. "You guys stay here." He started across the street.

Before anyone could even blink, a laser shot Ash away from the window and straight into the alien's arms.

Another alien stood behind where Ash just was, holding a laser gun. "I told you to keep your customers off my property, Jim! Now, get that brat away off my property before I kill him."

Chiro ran over and snatched Ash out of the first alien's, Jim's, arms. He brought his little brother back to the Mind Scrambler and laid him on the floor of the ship.

"I do my best, Rhonda! I can't keep them all off! Some have more curiosity than others!"

The second alien, Rhonda, growled at him. "I'll kill the next trespasser I find on my property, so keep 'em away!"

Jinmay and Iris gasped at that.

Chiro stepped out of the Mind Scrambler to stare at Rhonda, who promptly went back inside the nursery.

Jim sighed. "Sorry 'bout that. Like I said, she's not very hospitable. Bring your friend into the shop. That laser's got poison in it and I got the cure."

Chiro, Jinmay, and Iris nodded and Chiro carried Ash into the shop.

Jim gave the younger boy a shot and put a band-aid on him. "That should do it. Sorry again about Rhonda. She's always harming my more curious customers. That's why my rule is that no one goes near the nursery. I want to keep my customers safe."

"Why don't you call the police?" Iris asked.

"No clear evidence." Jim said. "If I had anything to prove her guilty, I would."

"There's got to be something we can do." Chiro said. "I'm not letting her poison my little brother and get away with it."

Ash moaned and opened his eyes, grabbing the others' attention. "W-what happened?"

"That freak from the nursery shot you with a laser gun and poisoned you. Luckily, Jim here had the cure." Chiro told him.

"Mom!" Ash yelled, shooting into an upright position. "Mom was in that building across the street!"

Chiro narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure! I know what I saw!" Ash said.

"Well Jim, I guess you have your evidence for conviction now." Jinmay said. "Their mother was sold in an illegal auction. The fact that she's in that nursery means that Rhonda bought her from the auction and that's highly illegal."

Chiro went and got the communicator from the police and called the police, who got there fifteen minutes later.

Everyone but Ash, who was still weak from the poison, then went across the street to the nursery and knocked on the front door.

Iris and Jinmay stayed behind the police, while Chiro pushed to the front and pointed to Delia, who was trying to calm down a crying baby.

"That's her." He said quietly. "That's my mom."

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! I DID NOT CALL FOR POLICE!" Rhonda shouted, marching into view as Chiro slipped behind the police to be with Iris and Jinmay.

"Ma'am, you are under arrest for illegal dealings on species of other planets." One of the police said.

Many of the workers, including Delia, looked up hopefully.

"THAT IS PREPOSTEROUS! WHY, I WOULD NEVER…" Rhonda yelled.

"I suggest you explain why you have a human here that was recently sold in an illegal auction then." Another of the police said.

Delia froze as Rhonda spun around to look at her.

"YOU!" Rhonda screamed at her. She whipped out her laser gun, set it to kill and fired.

Chiro blasted Delia out of the way just in time.

Rhonda then turned and fired at him before he could do anything else.

The boy collapsed.

"No!" Jinmay yelled, rushing to his side. "Chiro!"

Delia stiffened at the name, slowing getting up from where she lay on the floor.

One of the Intergalactic Policemen checked Chiro's pulse. "He's alive, but just barely. He needs to be taken to a hospital immediately."

"There's one around the corner that knows how to deal with this technology. I'll take him." Jim said.

"I'm going with you!" Jinmay announced.

Jim nodded. "Let's hurry."

They rushed Chiro out of there and to the hospital.

Ash saw them, but they were too focused on Chiro to notice.

The younger boy ran over to the nursery with Pikachu at his heels, determined to defeat the person who hurt his brother.

"What happened?" He asked quietly.

"That lady aimed a laser at your mom and, when Chiro got your mom out of the way, she aimed it at Chiro instead. Chiro got hit, but your mom is fine." Iris explained.

Ash pushed to the front, feeling very angry. He pointed at Rhonda. "Pikachu! Volt Tackle!"

Pikachu shot out at Rhonda knocking her unconscious and destroying the laser gun.

Ash still felt mad, but managed to restrain himself as the Intergalactic Police arrested Rhonda and returned to the ship.

One turned back. "I'm sorry about what happened to your friend. Hopefully, he'll get better soon."

Ash nodded numbly, his anger dissipating.

"Ash!" Delia ran over and threw her arms around her younger son. "Thank goodness you're all right!"

Ash nodded again, returning the hug, but thinking about Chiro.

Hopefully, his brother would be all right.


	12. Chapter 11

The heart monitor beeped slowly… too slowly…

It had been two weeks and Chiro still hadn't gotten any better.

Cilan had joined them and Ash, Iris, and Jinmay had explained everything that had happened so far on their journey.

The long wait was starting to get to them. According to the doctors, Chiro was stable, but they didn't know when, or if, he'd wake up.

Jinmay still hadn't called the monkeys. She was afraid to tell them that she hadn't been able to protect her boyfriend. She was afraid to tell them that Chiro might never wake up.

**Meanwhile…**

"What do we do, Antauri?" Nova asked. "This new threat is too much for us to handle. Chiro is who-knows-where looking for his birth family and Sprx, Otto, and Gibson have been captured."

Antauri sighed. "We have no choice. We need to send a distress call. Chiro is the only one who can help us now. Until he gets here, we have to try our best to protect Shuggazoom and rescue the others on our own."

**Meanwhile…**

Jinmay paced back and forth in the Mind Scrambler. She needed a break from sitting by Chiro's side for long hours with nothing to distract her from the fact that her boyfriend might never wake up.

No matter what she did, no matter what she thought about, her mind always turned back to Chiro's still, pale face. If she hadn't known any better, she might've thought he was only sleeping.

The screen in the Mind Scrambler beeped, indicating an incoming message.

"Uh-oh." Jinmay mumbled before answering. "Hello, this is Jinmay. Can I help you?"

"Jinmay, this is Antauri. I need to speak with Chiro." Antauri appeared on screen.

"Um… He's unavailable right now. Can I take a message?" Jinmay asked, trying to keep the panic off her face.

Antauri saw right through it. "Jinmay, where is Chiro?"

"Um… I'll call you back…" Jinmay said and went to hang up.

"Jinmay, no. This is important." Antauri said.

Jinmay bit her lip. "Can't I just take a message? Please?"

"I'll tell you once you explain what's going on with Chiro." Antauri said. "It's very important, understand?"

"Chiro can't help you at the moment." Jinmay said, tugging on her right pigtail nervously.

Nova pushed Antauri to the side. "Why? What happened?"

Jinmay sighed and told them quietly, without looking at them. "We were rescuing Chiro and Ash's mom and Chiro got hit with a laser set on kill. We rushed him to the hospital, but the doctors don't know if he'll ever wake up."

Everyone was silent for a while.

Finally, Antauri spoke. "When did this happen?"

"About two weeks ago. I was afraid to tell you." Jinmay said. "I thought you'd panic."

"I admit that is very bad news, not only because Chiro is hurt, but also because he was our last hope." Antauri said. "We could call in all our allies, but we can't defeat this villain without Chiro. Otto, Sprx, and Gibson have already been captured and…"

The picture fuzzed up and Jinmay could no longer hear Antauri.

"Antauri? Antauri?!" She shouted.

Another picture came into view. The criminal the Monkey Team was facing. He looked like a weird combination of a griffin and a werewolf.

"So, I take it you are the Hyper Force's last hope?" The griffin-werewolf sneered.

"Who are you?" Jinmay asked.

"I'm Grolf, girl, and I'm coming for you. You will not escape and neither will the rest of the Hyper Force, or the rest of the universe!" The griffin-werewolf gave off an evil laugh.

Jinmay gulped. "You'll never defeat the Hyper Force's last hope. I'll stop you."

Grolf laughed evilly again. "Dream on, girlly. I'll defeat you and anyone else who stands in my way."

He disconnected the call.

Jinmay tried to call Antauri again, but the call didn't go through.

"Antauri, Nova, please… Hold him back as long as you can…" She whispered.

"Jinmay?" Jinmay spun around to see Ash behind her. "Who was that?"

"How much did you hear?" She asked the boy.

"Something last hope. I'll stop you. From there on." Ash replied.

Jinmay was silent for a few minutes. Then, she said. "That guy is an enemy of the Hyper Force. The Monkey Team called to get Chiro's help and then that guy hacked the signal. I need to lure him away from here so he doesn't find Chiro. Chiro can't fight him while he's hurt."

Ash nodded. "I understand."

"I'll need to take the Mind Scrambler, but, if I do, how will you get off this planet?" Jinmay wondered.

Ash sighed. "I don't know. We'll have to do something, won't we?"

"If only we could take Chiro to your planet and leave you all there…" Jinmay mumbled.

"That's worth asking the doctors, don't you think?" Ash said.

Jinmay turned to stare at him. "Say what?"

"If you take us back to our planet, not only will we be home, but Chiro will be safe. Two Pidgeys with one stone." Ash explained.

Jinmay hesitated. "I don't know…"

"Jinmay, we have to decide soon. That guy is coming for you and we need to get Chiro to safety before then." Ash said. "If we end up stuck on this planet, that's that, but we need to make a choice soon."

Jinmay nodded. "Let's go ask the doctors if we can move him."

They went into the hospital and asked to talk to the doctor in charge of Chiro, whom they promptly explained the problem to.

"I understand the problem and it is possible for Chiro to be moved, but he'll need to continue on in medical care once you reach the other planet." The doctor told them. "Do they know how to handle coma patients?"

Jinmay glanced at Ash for an answer and the boy said they did.

The doctor agreed to help move the boy to the ship and told them to be careful with him during the journey to the hospital on PokeEarth.

Fortunately, it seemed there was a hospital on PokeEarth that knew how to handle effects from alien technology in addition to normal human illnesses. Even more fortunately, this hospital was hidden underground and not far from Pallet Town.

The doctor phoned them to let them know the kids were coming and arranged a place for them to meet outside of town.

It was a short but silent trip to PokeEarth. Jinmay and Ash refused to say why they'd requested to move Chiro immediately.

Jinmay left as soon as Chiro was seen safely to the new hospital, but not before whispering something in Ash's ear.

**Later…**

Jinmay was cruising back to Shuggazoom when the Mind Scrambler was intercepted.

Grolf's minions yanked her out of the Mind Scrambler as soon as it was aboard Grolf's ship and dragged her to Grolf's 'throne room'.

"So, the Hyper Force's last hope has been captured. What do you have to say for yourself, girlly?" Grolf laughed.

"Wait, I thought Chiro was our last hope?" Sprx said stupidly. He and the rest of the Monkey Team were chained to a wall across the room.

"SHH!" Gibson hissed.

"Don't tell me to shush, Brain Strain! I'm not saying we weren't counting on Jinmay too, but the kid…"

"And who might you be talking about?" Grolf asked angrily, walking over to them

"No one. It doesn't matter." Nova said, looking at her feet.

Grolf yanked her face up, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Look at me when you're speaking to me! Now tell me who this Chiro fellow is!"

"It doesn't matter who he is! He's not a threat to you so forget about him!" Nova shouted.

Otto, Sprx, and Gibson looked over at her in confusion, wondering what she meant by that.

Grolf motioned for Jinmay to be chained up next to the monkeys and left the room.

"What were you talking about, Nova? Isn't Chiro coming to get us?" Otto asked.

Jinmay was the one who answered. "Eventually, maybe. Soon, definitely not."

"What do you mean, kid? Why wouldn't the kid come to get us as soon as he could?" Sprx asked.

Antauri put in a question of his own to Jinmay. "You took the Mind Scrambler, did you not?"

"I did." Jinmay answered quietly.

"So Chiro has no way off the planet he's on now when he wakes up, am I correct?" Antauri continued.

"You're correct." Jinmay responded. "But he'll find a way. He always does."

"Wait. You abandoned the kid on some foreign planet in some faraway galaxy?" Sprx said. "When we need his help the most? Are you crazy?! We need him!"

"He wouldn't be able to help us anyways. He's… he's in a coma..." Jinmay trailed off.

"IN A COMA?! WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?!" Sprx shouted.

"Shh. That creep might hear." Jinmay said. "There a very slim chance that he'll wake up. A _very_ slim chance. But it's our only hope."

The monkeys looked at the ground.

"I should've been there." Antauri finally said. "I should've been there to protect him."

"There's nothing you could've done. It happened too fast to stop." Jinmay said. "But he's safe for now. That's all that matters. I erased the flight pattern on the Mind Scrambler so that creep wouldn't know where I've been."

Grolf came back, stopping their conversation. "So… Hyper Force… Where should I conquer next?"

"Nowhere." Jinmay answered under her breath.

"What was that you said, girlly?" Grolf hissed.

"I don't think you should conquer any planets. They deserve to be free." Jinmay replied boldly, earning herself a slap across the face.

"How about another planet populated by helpless humans?" Grolf suggested. "I know of another one. They call it PokeEarth."

The color drained from Jinmay's face. She did her best not to show it.

"Will take a couple of hours to get there, but then we start conquering." Grolf turned and grinned at the look on Jinmay's face. "What's wrong, girlly? Got some friends waiting to be conquered?"

"No." Jinmay lied. "Why do you ask?"

"Maybe this Chiro person?" Grolf prodded.

"Leave Chiro out of this!" Jinmay shouted.

Grolf chuckled menacingly. "Looks like I've struck a nerve there, eh, girlly?"

Jinmay growled at him.

Grolf laughed again. "Well, girlly, whatever friends you have on PokeEarth will soon be under my control. You are powerless to stop me, so you might as well give up."

"I'll never give up." Jinmay whispered.

Grolf smirked. "Then I will make you suffer."


	13. Chapter 12

When Ash decided to go over to Professor Oak's to see the pokemon that hadn't been with him during his intergalactic adventure, he was expecting to have to explain himself to Professor Oak and Tracey, not _all_ of his friends and the police.

The questions were pounding through his head like a stampede of Tauros and he didn't have time to answer any of them until Professor Oak cut in and told them to ask one at a time.

Brock went first. "Ash, where have you been? It's been over a year and a month and a half since you, your mom, and your companions went missing, since you disappeared off the face of the planet. You could have at least contacted us or something."

Ash didn't know how to answer that, but everyone was waiting, wanting to know the same thing.

Finally, he said. "You said disappeared off the face of the planet."

Brock raised an eyebrow. "I did."

"That's what happened." Ash said.

Everyone was silent.

May spoke next. "What do you mean by that? You can't have left the planet, could you have?"

"Not willingly, if that's what you mean." Ash said.

"Are you saying you were kidnapped by aliens?" Max asked.

"That's preposterous! No one could've been kidnapped by aliens! They don't have the technology to come to our planet!" A police officer said.

Ash stared at him. This obviously wasn't an officer familiar with the case when he was little.

Officer Jenny, on the other hand, was. She leaned down, looked Ash in the eyes, and asked. "They came back for you and your mom?"

Everyone except Professor Oak and Ash turned to look at her like she was crazy.

Ash nodded silently, the action bringing the attention back to himself.

"What's going on that we don't know about?!" Misty shouted. "Who came back for Ash and his mom and what does it have to do with disappearing off the face of the Earth?!"

Ash shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, not wanting to tell them.

Reading his body language, Officer Jenny decided to answer for him. "Two months before Ash was born, a group of aliens kidnapped his mother and older brother. Ash was born on the spaceship and it was several years before we saw them again. They managed to get back home with the help of an Intergalactic Police officer when he was five, but they lost Ash's older brother in the process. No one knows what happened to him. It's a story neither Ash nor his mother have ever shared. I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth and you might as well accept it."

Everyone was silent after the story, not knowing what to think.

Tracey finally asked a question. "What happened this time, Ash?"

Ash sighed. "They got me and Iris and Cilan from behind. We didn't know what was going on until we woke up on the spaceship. All the excitement that let to us getting home again started a year later."

"So you've only been free from the aliens for about a month and a half?" Brock asked.

"Not all of us." Ash responded. "It took over three weeks to find Iris and a week after that to find Cilan and Mom."

"How'd you get separated?" Dawn asked.

"It's not a nice story. I don't want to tell you." Ash said.

Misty started to object, but was interrupted by Professor Oak. "That's okay, Ash. It's probably a long story anyways."

Ash nodded in relieved agreement.

"One more thing, Ash. Where are your friends and mother now?" Officer Jenny asked.

"…"

"Hey! Ash!" Iris ran up to them, breathing hard. "Wow. There's a lot of people here. Anyways, your mom asked me to come get you. She's back at the house now, so you don't have to go back to the…" Ash covered her mouth before she could say anything about the secret hospital.

"I have a few questions for your mother and friends as well, Ash." Officer Jenny said. "I hope you don't mind if I come back to your house to talk to them."

"I don't mind." Ash said.

Just then, a huge space ship covered the sun. Alien creatures dropped down all over the planet.

Ash and his friends exchanged glances before pulling out pokeballs and releasing all of the pokemon they had on them.

Soon, they were surrounded by alien creatures who were very difficult to defeat.

It seemed to take forever for them to get rid of the creatures, but the ranch was covered with pokemon, and they eventually won the first battle. Other parts of the world weren't so lucky.

A picture appeared in the sky, visible from all corners of PokeEarth.

Ash recognized the picture as an image of the alien Jinmay had been talking to on the ship, the Hyper Force's enemy. The color drained from his face.

"People of PokeEarth, I have come to conquer you. Surrender peacefully and I might allow you to live. If not, I will kill every last one of you until this planet is desolate. You have two hours to surrender before I carry out my threat. No one can stop me." Grolf announced.

Ash snuck off while everyone was paying attention to the message. He ran as fast as he could to the secret hospital.

As he hurried to Chiro's room, he begged Arceus that his brother would wake up in time.

Chiro was their best hope.


	14. Chapter 13

**The next day…**

Ash woke up to find himself laying half on Chiro's bed and half on the chair, wondering if it had all just been a dream. If it was a dream, it was one he remembered vividly.

His heart sank as he realized it hadn't been a dream. He'd come down here and tried for three hours to wake Chiro up before falling asleep in the chair.

His heart sank even more when he realized that, by doing that, he had abandoned his friends when they needed him most.

He'd never felt so guilty in his life and he didn't know how to handle it.

He started crying and begging Chiro to wake up and help him.

He didn't notice when the heart monitor started to speed up. He didn't notice when Chiro twitched and started showing signs of waking.

He didn't notice until Chiro squeezed his hand on impulse.

That was when he stopped crying and wiped a few tears away, wondering what was going on.

A doctor ran into the room and started fussing over Chiro, doing procedures to help him towards waking up.

Ash stared at his brother's face, willing the older boy's eyes to open.

He was shocked out of his daze when Chiro snatched his hand away and started tossing and turning in his sleep.

"Chiro! It's okay! You're okay! Calm down so you can wake up!" Ash shouted.

Chiro slowly stopped tossing and turning and settled back onto his back, back into his slumber.

"It was a false alarm." The doctor said sadly. "But this means he's getting better. The chance he'll wake up is higher now than it was before."

"But we need him _now_. We can't wait that much longer or…" Ash gulped, thinking of what was going on on the surface.

"Do you believe he can stop what's going on up there?" The doctor asked, placing a hand gently on Ash's shoulder.

"I… I do…" Ash whispered.

"You need to go to the town's underground bomb shelter. You'll find the survivors there. Most of the townspeople managed to escape. Perhaps you can help somehow." The doctor said.

"I can't leave Chiro now, though." Ash replied hesitantly. "I can't have him waking up in an unfamiliar place alone."

"I understand, but don't get your hopes up. The chances of him waking are higher, but still slim." The doctor warned. "You can stay, but remember that there will be people worried about you and you can't stay here forever."

"I know. Thank you." Ash said. "I'll take that into consideration."

**Meanwhile…**

Brock paced back and forth in the bomb shelter. Everyone he knew in Pallet Town was there.

All except Ash.

The boy had disappeared sometime during the announcement and hadn't reappeared to fight during the attack.

It wasn't just Ash he was worried about, but his family too. He had ten younger siblings, a mother, and a father to worry about. Add Ash to the mix and he was worried as all get out.

The others were worried too. Misty was worried about her sisters, Dawn about her mother, May and Max about their mother and father, Tracey about his parents, Professor Oak about Gary, Iris about the Elder, Cilan about his brothers, and everyone about Ash.

"Where could he be?" Misty asked. "Doesn't he realize we're worried about him?"

"He could be at the secret hospital." Iris said.

"_Iris_, you're not supposed to tell anybody about that hospital!" Cilan said. "That's why it's called a _secret_ hospital!"

"Why would Ash be in a hospital? Much less, a secret one?" Dawn asked.

"If he did go there, he's visiting someone. I'll bet he's hoping that person could possibly help us." Delia said.

"Who?" Brock asked, finally having stopped his pacing. "If anyone could help us, we'd really appreciate it."

Delia sighed. "His brother…"

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"I thought Officer Jenny said that you'd lost Ash's brother years ago." May said.

"We did, but we were reunited with him recently." Delia explained. "Unfortunately, he got hurt and fell into a coma. We don't know when, or if, he'll ever wake up."

"That's horrible." Max said. "How did it happen?"

"He saved me from getting shot by a ray gun and then the enemy turned and fired it at him. He didn't get out of the way in time." Delia said. "Apparently, the ray gun was set on kill. He's lucky to be alive." A tear streaked down her cheek. "It was my fault. If I hadn't…"

"It wasn't your fault, Mrs. Ketchum. There was nothing you could've done about it." Iris assured her.

"Let's just hope he's there and not dead." Max said without thinking.

Everyone gasped.

"Max! Think before speaking!" May scolded.

"Sorry." Max mumbled.

"Ash will be fine and so will Chiro." Brock said.

"Hopefully." Tracey murmured. Brock glared at him.

"They _will_ be fine." Brock said. "I know it."

To tell the truth, he didn't know it, but he wasn't going to voice _that_.

"It's safe here. They won't find us." May said, attempting to change the subject.

"But what about when we run out of food?" Max asked.

"No need to worry. We'll deal with it when we get there." Dawn assured him.

Max shrugged. "Okay."

Delia stared at the ceiling of the bomb shelter, thinking to herself.

'Please wake up, Chiro. We need you and Ash both.'


	15. Chapter 14

Ash looked up as he heard a crash upstairs. He got up, told Pikachu to stay put, and exited Chiro's hospital room, heading upstairs to the lobby. When he got there, he hid, because standing in the middle of the lobby was the creep that Jinmay had claimed was an enemy of the Hyper Force.

"I heard a rumor a young boy I'm looking for is being kept as a patient here." The creep said. "He's called Chiro. Give him to me and I will allow you to live."

The people in the lobby shifted uncomfortably.

Ash stood up and came out into the open. He didn't know what he was doing until he heard the lie come out of his mouth. "I'm Chiro. What do you want with me?"

Everyone turned to look at him in surprise, most of them knowing for a fact that he wasn't Chiro.

The creep grinned. "You're coming with me, child, whether you like it or not."

Ash gulped. What was he getting himself into? "Will you leave these people alone if I come with you?"

"It's not your choice, boy." The creep said, signaling some of his cronies to grab Ash.

The boy backed away, turned and started to run towards the entrance, leading them away from the one they actually wanted.

He was tackled not long after leaving the hospital. The creep hit him hard over the top of the head and he fell unconscious.

**Later that day…**

Chiro moaned and slowly opened his eyes. Everything was blurry and the only thing he could hear was a beeping sound. He wondered if he was in the Med Bay, but then remembered he hadn't been with the monkeys for a while now. His mind started to clear, as well as his vision. He soon realized he was in some sort of hospital room and there was a human doctor nearby. He blinked. That couldn't be right. He hadn't been anywhere near a human hospital last time he'd checked.

"You're awake." The doctor said. "That's good."

"Where are my friends and family?" Chiro croaked.

"There's been a lot going on lately." The doctor said. "There are two things you need to know, Chiro."

Chiro blinked. "What?"

"One: Someone's been working to conquer this world. Two: They came looking for you and your brother lured them away by pretending to be you." The doctor told him.

Chiro shot into a sitting position, instantly regretting it due to a dizzy spell that accompanied it. "WHAT?!"

"You need to relax, Chiro. You still have some recovering to do." The doctor said.

"RELAX?! HOW CAN I RELAX WHEN MY BROTHER IS IN DANGER?!" Chiro shouted, slipping off the bed and stumbling a bit. "I HAVE TO…"

He passed out from using too much energy before he could finish the sentence.

**Meanwhile…**

Ash opened his eyes dizzily. He was chained to a wall somewhere.

He shook his head and his vision cleared, allowing him to see where he was. He was in some sort of cell and Jinmay was chained right next to him along with five monkeys he recognized from the planet Chiro had been living on.

"Are you an idiot?" Jinmay asked.

"Sometimes." Ash shrugged. "Oh well. Can't change it now."

"And what happens when he finds out you lied to him?" Jinmay asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Ash said.

"And what about when your brother wakes up and finds out what you did?" Jinmay asked.

"He'll come and rescue us." Ash replied. "He was showing signs of waking anyhow."

Everyone in the cell turned to look at him.

"That's fantastic! We were so worried!" Jinmay said.

They heard footsteps coming just then and the door to the cell opened.

The creep came in and grabbed Ash. He unchained the boy and tied his hands behind his back.

Ash struggled the whole time. The creep pushed him forward.

"Where are you taking him?" Jinmay asked. "Leave him alone!"

The creep smirked. "I can do whatever I want with the child. He's at my mercy now."

"Let him go! He didn't do anything wrong!" The yellow monkey shouted.

Ash glanced back at them as he was pushed out of the room, wondering if he was ever going to see them again.

The creep pushed and dragged him into a room that looked to be some sort of lab and chained him facing a wall. He grabbed the boy's arm and stuck a needle filled with anesthesia in it.

Ash soon passed out again.

**Meanwhile…**

Chiro woke up again to find himself back in the hospital bed. Memories of the last time he was awake spilled into his head and he went to push himself up and off the bed, but he was unfortunately held down by a doctor.

"Chiro, please listen to me." The doctor, the same doctor as before, begged. "It you go after your brother in your current condition, it could only end in disaster. You might be captured yourself, or worse."

"But Ash…" Chiro whispered.

"I know you're worried, but you don't even know where to find him. Please wait a few more days before starting your search." The doctor said.

Chiro sighed. "I guess you're right, but I'm only going to stay for a week at most."

The doctor was relieved. "Thank goodness. Now get some rest. I'll be back later to check on you.

Chiro nodded and watched as the doctor left.

'Wherever you are, Ash. Please hang in there.'


	16. Chapter 15

It had been a week since Chiro's first awakening and the doctors reluctantly let him leave, but not alone.

The doctor who had been with Chiro the first two times he'd woken up and each time after, Dr. Hone, was escorting him to the town's underground bomb shelter, where most of the survivors were staying.

After several tough battles and four long hours, they finally made it and Dr. Hone typed in the code that only the townspeople knew.

Many people looked up in alarm when the entrance opened up. Dr. Hone rushed Chiro in and shut the entrance behind them.

Several townspeople got up and approached them.

"What were you doing out there? Don't you know how dangerous it is out there?" One woman asked.

"If we didn't before, we certainly do now." Dr. Hone answered sheepishly.

Chiro looked around and spotted the group of Ash's friends and his mother. He walked over to them.

"Where's Ash?" A redhead girl asked.

"They got him. I think they're keeping him alive, though." Chiro said quietly. "I'm going to find him, but Dr. Hone insisted I come here first." The group was shocked. His mother was in tears. Chiro continued. "Anyone up for leaving this place to go find Ash?"

Iris was the first to snap out of it. "Count me in!"

"If she's in, so am I." Cilan put in.

The rest of Ash's friends, most of whom Chiro didn't know, chimed in as well.

Chiro smiled. "Great, but we need to be careful up there. It took four hours to make it halfway across town."

"We'll be fine." A tall boy with slits for eyes assured him.

"Um, first things first. I don't even know your names." Chiro said. "Except for Iris and Cilan. I know them."

"Right. I'm Brock." The tall boy said.

"I'm Misty." The redhead said.

"My name is May." A brunette said.

"I'm Max." A short boy said.

"Dawn's the name." A girl with blue hair introduced.

"And I'm Tracey." A boy with dark green almost black hair said. "It's nice to meet you."

"My name is Chiro." Chiro said. "I'm Ash's older brother. You've probably heard about me."

"So _you're_ Chiro." Dawn said. "You're right about us having heard of you."

Chiro nodded. "How fast can you get ready to go?"

"Give us ten minutes." Brock replied. "We can get ready that fast."

"Okay. Hurry up." Chiro said. He walked over to his mother, who hugged him. "I'll bring him home, Mom. I promise."

Delia nodded. "I trust you, Chiro. Please bring him home alive."

"I will, Mom. I will." Chiro said.

**Ten minutes later…**

Chiro gently opened the exit of the bomb shelter and led Ash's friends out, closing the entrance behind them.

"Let's go." He said, and they ran.

They'd been running for a while before they finally stopped in the clearing for a break.

"I just thought of something. If that guy who conquered PokeEarth is from outer space, wouldn't he keep his prisoners in a space ship? How are we supposed to find him?" Dawn asked.

Everyone pondered that for a little while.

Chiro hesitated before looking at his communicator, which he'd kept with him the whole time. He knew he wasn't on the best of terms with the monkey team right now, but he needed their help if he was going to rescue Ash.

He activated the communicator. "Antauri. Antauri, can you hear me?"

Everyone turned to look at him.

An answer came through the communicator. "Chiro, thank goodness you're all right. We need your help. A new enemy has captured us; we weren't able to defeat him and now we're his prisoners." There was a pause. "Jinmay says to let you know they're keeping your brother alive. He's not with us at the moment, but he's okay."

Chiro breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks for the information, Antauri. I'll have to find some other way to get off the planet."

"Alright, Chiro. We're counting on you." Antauri said before breaking the connection.

Chiro looked up. "Eh, at least we know he's alive. Do you know where we can find the materials to build a spaceship?"

"_Build_ a spaceship? How are we supposed to do that?" Iris asked.

"It's either that or wait for them to strike again nearby. There's got to be some way to get onto that ship." Chiro said. "And I don't want to sit around waiting."

"There's a factory near Cerulean City that makes airplane and boat parts. Maybe we can use those." Misty said.

"How far to Cerulean City then?" Chiro asked.

"A couple of weeks by foot." Brock answered.

Chiro bit his lip. "How about by car?"

"None of us know how to drive." Cilan pointed out.

"There's a first time for everything." Chiro shrugged. "We just need to find a car."

"There's one!" Dawn pointed to a minivan parked by the side of a nearby road.

"Everyone pile in. I'll drive." Chiro said.

Everyone except Iris and Cilan, who ran over to the minivan, looked at him as if he were crazy.

Chiro ignored their stares and walked over to join Iris and Cilan.

"It's open!" Iris called, trying the door. She and Cilan got in the back, while Chiro got in the driver's seat.

"Are you coming or what?" Chiro asked the others.

"Don't worry. I think a space ship is more difficult to drive than a car." Iris assured them. "And Chiro's driven a space ship tons of times."

One by one, the others went into the car. Brock took the passenger seat and the others sat in back.

Chiro sparked the ignition and the car started. Chiro pressed the gas pedal and the car jerked forward and was soon speeding down the road. Chiro figured out how to slow it down and drive it pretty quickly and, thankfully, there were no crashes.

**Three days later…**

"This is it! The airplane and boat parts factory!" Misty announced.

Chiro stopped the car. "It's big. I'll bet there are plenty of parts we can use in there."

The group got out of the car and entered the factory.

"Look for thick parts that can hold in air. I'll look for an engine." Chiro said.

They spent several hours collecting parts.

Then, they started building the rocket.

**A month later…**

"Well, it took a while, but it'll work." Chiro said.

"Shouldn't we, you know, test it first?" May asked.

"Maybe… but I don't think the engine will make more than one trip." Chiro replied.

"Should we really risk it?" Iris asked. "What if it fails?"

"I'm going to take that chance, whether you're with me or not." Chiro said. "I'm going to do anything it takes to rescue my brother and my team."

The others hesitated, but they agreed one by one and went aboard the rocket.


	17. Chapter 16

The rocket worked and the group made it to the spaceship without difficulty.

It was when they got onboard when things went wrong.

The rocket they'd come in exploded, alerting the enemy of their presence quite loudly.

The group got up from the ground after being knocking over from the force of the explosion to find themselves surrounded.

"Not good." Iris mumbled.

"What now?" Dawn asked.

"You come with us." One of the enemies growled.

The kids were grabbed and dragged out of the room, down the hall, and into the enemy leader's throne room.

The enemy stared them down. "Children? Why would those pathetic humans send children in an attempt to defeat me?"

Chiro broke free and changed into Hyper Mode, surprising everyone there. Then, he took down every enemy in the room except for the leader.

He grabbed the leader and threw him across the room, ran over, picked him up, and slammed him into the wall. "I want my brother and my team. Where are they?"

"Like I'd tell you." The enemy leader hissed and kicked Chiro in the nuts.

Chiro stumbled back, but quickly got over it and dodged the next blow. He yelled to Ash's friends without losing focus. "Find them! I'll distract him!"

"Good luck, Chiro!" Iris yelled as the kids, excluding Chiro, ran off.

Outside the throne room, Brock turned to his companions. "Split up. We can cover more ground that way. Iris, you go with Cilan. Tracey, you and Misty are a team. May, you're with Max. I'll stick with Dawn. Everyone take a different direction. Let's go."

**With Iris and Cilan…**

Iris and Cilan walked down the halls, looking in every room.

"Cilan?" Iris said.

"Yes, Iris?" Cilan asked.

"There's… um… something I've been… um… wanting to tell you for a… uh… long time…" Iris stammered.

"There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now too." Cilan said. "But you go first."

They stopped walking.

"I… um… I…" Iris paused. "Oh the heck with it!" She kissed him on the lips.

Cilan was surprised at first but he slowly settled in to the kiss and wrapped his arms around Iris.

"Hey lovebirds! I get that you're kind of having your confession moment over there, but can you finish up and get to us!" The two broke apart at Jinmay's voice.

They glanced over to see Jinmay and some colorful monkeys, turned back to each other, whispered their 'I love you's to each other, and ran over to untie the monkeys and Jinmay.

"Where's Chiro?" Jinmay asked as soon as she was untied.

"Fighting that creep. He said to go search for you guys and… where's Ash?" Iris interrupted herself when she noticed Ash wasn't there.

"They separated him from us over a month ago." Jinmay said. "We think he's somewhere on the ship, but we're not sure."

"I hope he is. If they pushed him out into space…" Iris shivered.

"I don't think they did. We need to find him soon, though. There's no telling what Grolf has planned for him." Jinmay said.

"Grolf?" Cilan questioned.

"The creep who conquered your planet. That's what he calls himself." Jinmay explained. "Come on. Let's go before they find out we've escaped."

They ran off.

**With Misty and Tracey…**

"Misty… um… you know how I've had a lot of time to draw recently?" Tracey asked.

"Yeah. So?" Misty asked.

"I… um… drew something for you…" Tracey said, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to her.

Misty unfolded the picture and was surprised at what she saw. There was a picture of her and Azurill riding Gyarados and spread across the page were the words 'Will you be my girlfriend?'.

Tracey was fidgeting nervously and blushing deeply, anxious to hear her answer. They had stopped walking.

She smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Of course I will."

"Well that's the way Tracey does it." They jumped at Iris's voice.

"He seemed just as anxious as you were, Iris." Cilan laughed.

Misty and Tracey turned to see Iris and Cilan with a group of people they didn't know, probably Chiro's team.

"Oh shush. At least I found a way to get it out." Iris punched him in the shoulder.

"At least they're not having a make-out session in front of us." A pink-haired girl teased.

"You and Chiro do it all the time, Jinmay." A yellow critter pointed out.

The pink-haired girl, Jinmay, blushed. "So?"

"Have you seen Ash?" Iris asked. "They haven't seen him in over a month."

"Not yet, but we're looking." Tracey said.

"Mind if we join you? We already checked the direction we went in." Cilan said.

"Not at all." Misty said. "Come on, we've got a friend to find."

**(A/n) I'm going to end the chapter here because the next part can either have hints for a sequel or not. I've posted a poll for whether or not I should write a sequel for this story on my profile. I will only post the next chapter once twenty different people vote on that poll so that I can decide whether or not to put those hints in the next chapter. Thanks. (A/n)**


	18. Chapter 17

**(A/n) Thank you to the two of you who actually voted on my poll on whether or not I should make a sequel. I know I said I'd wait for twenty people to vote, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, so I decided to post the next chapter anyways. Since the two votes were both 'Yes', I promise there will be a sequel. (A/n)**

**With Dawn, Brock, May, and Max…**

On the other side of the ship, the other two groups had met up.

Not long after, they were the ones to find the prison room.

The prisoners were being held in some sort of tubes that opened with one touch.

Each person woke up as soon as the tube they were in was opened. They were all happy to be rescued.

Ash was no exception. The moment he was out of the tube, he ran over and threw his arms around Brock. He then hugged his other three friends as well.

"You came for me." He said. "Thank you."

"Thank Chiro. He's the one who designed the rocket to get us up here." Brock said.

"Where _is_ Chiro?" Ash asked.

"Fighting the creep who kidnapped you." May answered. "He told us to go find you and the others while he distracted it."

"Okay. Let's go!" Ash said and ran out of the room. He peeked back in. "Come on. Let's go to Chiro."

His friends sighed and shook their heads at his enthusiasm with smiles plastered on their faces.

Then, everyone followed Ash out of the room.

**Back in the Throne Room…**

Chiro struggled to get back up.

The creep, evidently called Grolf, charged him and knocked him against a wall again. Hard.

This time, instead of struggling to get back up, Chiro was struggling to stay conscious.

"So you're the infamous Chiro, the Hyper Force's last hope. You're quite the weakling if you ask me." Grolf sneered. He picked the boy up and slammed him against the wall one last time, allowing the ooze to tie him to the wall.

Unable to hold it back anymore, Chiro slipped into unconsciousness.

Grolf examined the boy, deciding it would be quite a treat to do the same to him as he had to his other prisoners.

**(A/n) What he did to the others will be made known in the sequel. If you want to guess, you can pm me, but please do not place your guess in the reviews. (A/n)**

It was then that Jinmay and the monkeys arrived at the throne room with Iris, Cilan, Misty, and Tracey.

"Chiro!" Jinmay shouted, catching Grolf's attention.

"What the… how did you…" Grolf stammered. He was interrupted by Jinmay's laser eyes shooting him away from Chiro.

Jinmay ran over and used her laser eyes to get her boyfriend untied.

Chiro fell on top of her and she stumbled a bit under his weight before carrying him back to the others and handing him to Gibson.

"Get him to Med Bay." She told the blue monkey.

Gibson swiftly obeyed, getting Sprx to help him move the unconscious boy back to the Super Robot.

They met up with the prisoners on the way and they all went to the Super Robot.

The others soon joined them.

"He escaped in an escape pod." Jinmay said. "We'll have to go after him once we get everybody home."

A moan caught their attention. It was Chiro beginning to wake up.

"Chiro!" Ash was the first one by his side, there even before Gibson, who was five feet away.

Chiro opened his eyes. "Ash?"

Ash nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! It's me!"

"Thank goodness you're okay. I was so worried." Chiro said. He winced as he pushed himself up. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Ash said.

Gibson interrupted before Ash could say anything else. "How about you, Chiro? Are you feeling okay?"

"I hurt all over, but mainly around my torso area and right ankle." Chiro said. "Can I have some painkillers, please?"

"Of course." Gibson went to get some.

"I knew you would come, Chiro. I just knew you would!" Ash said.

"I couldn't just leave you with that creep. I wanted to go save you the moment I awoke, but the doctor forced me to stay in the hospital for an extra week to recover and it took about a month to build the rocket." Chiro said. He downed the painkillers Gibson gave him with a cup of water. "Thanks, Gibson. He didn't hurt any of you, did he?"

"I don't know. He knocked me out at some point and I don't know what happened during that time but it probably wasn't good." Ash said.

Chiro looked at Gibson, who quickly realized Chiro wanted him to give Ash a check-up.

He did and was quickly able to assure Chiro that his brother was fine.

"Good." Chiro said. "Check the others as well while you're at it, okay?"

"Alright, but first let me check you. You're the one that's hurt." Gibson insisted.

"I'm fine, Gibson, but I guess it wouldn't hurt." Chiro replied.

It ended up that, in reality, Chiro wasn't okay. He had a sprained ankle and several bruised ribs due to his fight with Grolf. Gibson had Ash help the older boy up to his room where he could lay down on his bed.

Once they got there and Chiro was sitting on his bed, Ash spoke. "How are things on PokeEarth? It was pretty bad there before I got captured."

"It's still pretty bad." Chiro said. "We're going to have to find Grolf and destroy him as soon as possible. First off, we have to free PokeEarth and Shuggazoom from his control."

Ash nodded slowly. "Can I come with you to defeat that creep?"

Chiro shook his head. "You're not experienced enough to fight him, Ash. In a worst case scenario, you'd have to fight without your pokemon. Do you know how to do that?"

Ash sighed. "Not really. I'm used to relying on my pokemon for protection. I've never really fought with my own body before. At least, not in a major fight."

"Do you understand now why I can't let you come?" Chiro asked.

Ash nodded again. "Yes. That doesn't mean I'm not disappointed though."

"I expected as much." Chiro said. "Well, Gibson wants me to get some rest. Why don't you go talk to your friends? They've been very worried about you, you know."

"Okay, I will. Sweet dreams, Chiro." Ash said and left the room.

Chiro smiled lightly and whispered. "Okay."

Then, he lay down on his bed and, ignoring the pain that had been only slightly reduced by the painkillers, fell fast asleep.


	19. Chapter 18

**(A/n) Sorry it took so long to post this. I was having trouble coming up with the second half of the chapter. It's finally done although I wish it was better. This is the last chapter, but look out for the sequel, Finding Grolf. It will be posted soon enough. (A/n)**

Ash went back to the Command Center and walked over to his friends.

They looked up when they saw him.

"Hey, Ash, how are you feeling?" Misty asked.

"I'm okay. I'm hungry though." Ash answered.

His friends laughed at the normal Ash statement.

"Why don't you ask the monkeys for some food? I'm sure they wouldn't mind." Cilan suggested when he stopped laughing.

"Okay." Ash said, walking off again. He returned to his friends a few minutes later, munching on some food.

"How's it taste?" May asked.

"Weely Gwood." Ash said with his mouth full. His friends laughed again. "Vat's swo fwuny?"

"You with your mouth full!" Max laughed.

Ash swallowed. "Better?"

"Yes." Brock said. "Much better."

Just then, the monkeys called a meeting.

"We need to discuss how we are going to free both planets from Grolf's control." Antauri said. "It's not going to be easy. We will need all of your help."

"Just tell us what to do and we'll do it." A Shuggazoomian said.

"Why should we listen to them? They're not human!" A PokeEarthling said.

An argument broke out across the Command Center, Shuggazoomians versus PokeEarthlings, with Ash and his friends stuck in the middle.

"SHUT UP!" Misty roared. "WE'RE LISTENING TO THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE USED TO FIGHTING ENEMIES LIKE THIS WHILE WE HAVE NEVER DONE SUCH A THING BEFORE! NOW PAY ATTENTION IF YOU WANT TO FREE OUR PLANETS AS WELL AS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE HIT IN THE HEAD WITH MY HAMMER!" She pulled out her giant hammer.

Everyone fell silent.

Antauri cleared his throat, nodding a thank you to Misty. "As I was saying, we need all the help we can get. We also need a good plan. Grolf's got minions all over both planets and we need to get rid of them. We're going to have to teach you how to fight in order to do this. I understand the PokeEarthlings are used to using their pokemon for fighting, but it would be best if they knew how to fight as well." Everyone started whispering to each other. "If anyone has any ideas on how to defeat Grolf's cronies, speak now."

Max raised his hand. "If we could lure them all into one place, we could crush them or something. Get rid of a lot of them at the same time. We wouldn't have to fight as many if we did that."

Antauri nodded his approval at Max's plan. "That would get rid of about half of them before they realize what we're doing. That rest we are going to have to figure out another way to get rid of."

Brock was the one to raise his hand this time. "We could surround the remaining ones and attack them as a group."

"Also a good plan." Antauri commented. "Alright, split into groups and we'll teach you all how to fight. After that, we'll split up and attack both planets at once."

Everyone agreed, although some a little reluctantly, and they did as Antauri said.

**Days later…**

A group of the PokeEarthlings knelt behind rubble, weapons in hands. They were waiting for their signal to start. In order for Grolf to be surprised by both attacks, they had to begin at the same time.

A beep sounded from a watch around Ash's wrist. That was their signal. Grolf's minions gathered around Ash, who quickly jumped out of the way as the wall came down on top of them.

The beeping sound wasn't only the starting signal; it was to get the minions' attention. This act continued for about an hour before one of the minions grabbed Ash and put a bladed arm to his throat. The boy froze.

A blast came from behind the two effectively destroying the minion. The group moved on to the second phase of their plan, surrounding and destroying.

They worked hard to wipe Kanto clean of all minions. Other groups were doing the same to the other regions.

Ash was fighting the leader minion when another minion came up behind him and hit him in the head hard. The boy was immediately knocked out. The leader minion was about to deal the final blow when Pikachu shocked it, effectively destroying it.

Ash wasn't the only one to have fallen during the battle and pokemon were protecting trainers all over the place.

When Ash awoke, he saw Chiro leaning over him. They were in the Med Bay of the Super Robot and the fight was over.

"Hey Ash. I was worried about you." Chiro said softly. "The fight ended an hour ago."

"Did we win?" Ash asked before realizing that was a stupid question and the fight wouldn't have ended if they hadn't won.

Chiro nodded. "Yeah. Both planets are free of Grolf's control. Now we just have to find Grolf."

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah. We'd like to help rebuild, but it's important that Grolf is permanently stopped as soon as possible."

"Can I come?"

"Ash, you didn't even get through the full fight with his minions. It's too risky for you to come with us, but I promise I'll come visit as soon as possible."

Ash nodded. "Okay. I'll keep you to that."

They hugged lightly and then Chiro led Ash out of the robot.

Ash watched the robot leave PokeEarth quietly. He was thinking only about Chiro's promise.


End file.
